


Code Conundrum

by MagdaTheMagpie



Series: Marvel & Magic [63]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29375958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagdaTheMagpie/pseuds/MagdaTheMagpie
Summary: On a mission, Clint notices morse code that makes no sense and goes to check it out.
Series: Marvel & Magic [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1109643
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49
Collections: Marvelously Magical Bingo 2021





	Code Conundrum

**Author's Note:**

> Square G4: Lumos

Clint had really good eyesight, just ask anyone. He actually saw better from a distance, and yet, he reluctantly pulled out the mandatory SHIELD-issued binoculars to double check what he was seeing.

On the hill across from his hiding spot, a light shone, bright and clear in the dark of night, then extinguished. Light, pause, out… again and again. Clint's first instinct was that the blinking light was Morse code, but either the person coding was illiterate, or it was in a Scottish dialect he had no hopes of understanding.

"Coulson?" he called over the radio.

He waited for a beat, just in case his handler had fallen asleep, and wouldn't that be great to tease him with, but, true to himself, the answer was immediate.

"Found something?" Coulson asked.

"Not sure," Clint admitted, explaining what he was witnessing even now. "I know we're just here to survey the area, but there's a light that's driving me crazy. It's probably just kids playing with a torchlight, but I'd like to go check it out. Could use a bit of exercise, too. Getting all cramped from the damp and cold."

Clint was  _ not _ a fan of Scotland, even in the summer. He'd much rather be stuck in a desert somewhere.

"Keep me updated," Coulson agreed. "And Barton?"

"Yessir?"

"Don't go doing anything stupid."

"Yessir."

Clint grinned and began stretching. He couldn't have asked for a better handler after the disaster that was Sitwell. Clint had almost quit over that stuck up rule-stickler, but Coulson was pretty laid back. Except when it came to paperwork. The guy  _ loved _ paperwork.

Starting off at a light trot, Clint kept to the shadows of the trees as much as possible before he reached open ground. From there, he made good use of the uneven ground, random looming rocks and weird spiky bushes. Seriously, this place hated Clint as much as he hated it.

Clint was almost there. The light was close, still blinking like a drunk firefly and, just as he peaked around a gnarly tree, he caught the sight of a small girl with crazy wild hair, kneeling on the ground, playing with the light.

Clint sighed. Kids with a torchlight it was, then. But it wasn't safe for a little girl to be out by herself this late at night, so he resolved to take her back home so she could get some sense scolded into her. However, he was interrupted by a little boy, even younger than she was, and with the ginger-est hair imaginable.

"Rose," he whined. "What are you doing?"

"What are  _ you  _ doing here, Hugo. Go back to bed!" she hissed with all the authority a skinny little girl in her nighty could muster.

"No," Hugo said simply and crossed his arms. "Dad is gonna go  _ mental _ if I leave you here alone."

"And mom is gonna  _ lecture _ you if you're not in your bed," she countered.

Clint chuckled at their argument, but the little boy seemed to seriously be considering his options.

"Are you done soon?" he finally asked.

"No. Mom could do  _ all _ these spells when she started Hogwarts," she replied, holding up a rolled up paper full of scribbling. "And I can't even keep this Lumos shining for a few seconds."

Clint thought he  _ must _ have misheard, or the kids were playing make-believe, but then Rose swished a magic wand and lo and behold, there was the light he had been following. It held for three second, round and bright, then blinked out of existence. No torchlight in sight.

"See," Rose said.

"That's not your wand," Hugo pointed out.

"I'll put it back," Rose said defensively.

"No, I mean… dad said a wand is important and it chooses you or it doesn't work well, like the stories with dad's and Uncle Neville's first wands."

The little girl frowned as she thought about her sibling's words, then nodded.

"I hope we go buy my wand soon. There's only  _ five _ weeks left before school starts," she bemoaned, then took her little brother's hand and they walked off.

Clint stayed at a distance to follow them, just to make sure they made it home safely. He was still trying to process what he had heard and seen when Coulson radioed in.

"Status? You've been gone a while, Barton."

Clint knew Coulson was more worried than suspicious. The man was a mother-hen at heart. Meanwhile, the two kids closed the back door to a lovely little cottage, and to the mystery within, but Clint decided he would not be the one to tear that family apart.

"Making my way back, sir. Nothing to report. As expected, just some kids playing with a flashlight."


End file.
